“KAMUI!!!”
Everything seemed to be in slow motion before Aiko’s eyes.
She was frozen in her seat, but everything around her was amplified. Her wide eyes watched the huge gasoline truck miss Kamui’s car. She felt her heart thundering within her as her body lurched forward. Her ears registered the continuing screech of car tires on the road. She felt her brother trying with all his might to steer the car away….
But it was no use.
The gasoline truck hit the Kazetenshi car with a sickening crash. Aiko held on to her seat tightly as the car spun, and she barely noticed when Hikaru was flung out of his seat. She closed her eyes tight as slivers of broken glass pricked her skin, as every decibel of the sound of chaos rang in her ears.
The car was still spinning…
.
.
Kamui flung his door open the moment their car skidded to a stop. He ran, not bothering to check for incoming cars. He ran, desperately trying to catch up with the truck as if he could do something to stop it. But they had run out of road. The car and truck became airborne in a matter few seconds.
“AIKO!!!”
.
.
The glass was falling from the sky, but they never reached her. The images of those close to her heart flashed before her.
Then Aiko’s eyes slowly closed, knowing full well what waited for her down below.
.
.
Kamui shielded his face from the heatwave that assaulted him. When he looked down the cliff again, he didn’t want to believe what he saw. Black smoke billowed over orange flames, the trees crackled as they burned.
Numbly, he fell to his knees, his throat dry and lungs constricted.
.
.
“AIKOOOOOO!!!”
.
.
————–
Her eyebrow twitched as she slowly awoke.
Ungh…
Blue filled her vision. She blinked, letting her eyes focus.
Aiko saw the sky above her, and felt the wind blowing in her face.
I‘m…I’m still alive, then?
But her body didn’t hurt at all. Shouldn’t she have injuries all over her after what just happened? Aiko’s eyes widened as realization dawned on her. Biting her lip, she blinked, and slowly turned around…
“Na— Na— NAAAAAAAAA?!”
Aiko had deducted that she was dead, but, honestly, the thought of floating in the sky had not occured to her.
“Kazetenshi Aiko, right, miss?”
Aiko sharply drew in her breath as she jumped, turning around quickly. The owner of the voice had been a boy, who looked around her age, or maybe a year or two older. He looked pretty normal, except for the fact that he was also floating in the air. (Then again, so was Aiko.) He was wearing denim pants, brown boots, and a blue polo shirt, under which he wore a white tee. He had dark maroon hair, and eyes of the same color.
Deep, maroon eyes… There was something strange in the way they looked at her… Yet, there was something so familiar. There was something about those eyes that made Aiko feel like…
Like…
Like she was captivated.
Aiko jolted out of her train of thought when the boy in front of her raised an eyebrow. You’ve been staring! she scolded herself as she looked away quickly. She felt her face getting warm, and imagined that she must be slowly turning red. She cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure.
“…Uh…yeah?”
The boy smiled a bit wider, and Aiko felt her face get even warmer.
“The name’s Kaji,” the boy said, offering his hand. “Come on. I’ll take you to Ran-sama.”
Aiko blinked. “Ran…-sama?”
“He’s been waiting for you. He’ll explain everything…”
Aiko exclaimed a “Hey! What—” when Kaji finally took her hand himself.
“Don’t worry!” he said as he began to fly. “Just hold on!”
“W-wait a second!” Aiko exclaimed, pulling her hand away. Kaji was evidently surprised, especially when Aiko slightly distanced herself from him.
“Kazetenshi-san…”
“Wait a second!” she repeated.
“What?”
“‘What’? ‘What’?! That’s supposed to be MY question!”
Kaji blinked for a moment, a polite yet obviously forced smile gracing his features.
“I already told you,” he said slowly, “Ran-sama will explain everything!”
“Why can’t YOU explain?”
“‘Coz Ran-sama is the one who’s SUPPOSED to explain!”
“Well, who’s Ran-sama, then?”
“Ran-sama is my superior—”
“There has to be SOME name for your whatever organization, right?”
Kaji finally frowned, closing his eyes in irritation. But Aiko couldn’t care less. Her speech was already prepared.
“First, you scare the daylights out of me, and then you try to get me to go with you, but then you won’t even give me an explanation! I don’t even know if I’m still alive! I’m floating in the sky over…over… wherever this place is and—”
“WHY WON’T YOU JUST SHUT UP AND COME WITH ME?!” Kaji finally shouted.
“GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON AND I WILL!” Aiko countered.
“OH YEAH?”
“YEAH! YOU’re the one that obviously needs me—!”
“HAH! Oh really?!
“Why else would you be forcing me to go with you, HUH?!”
.
.
Kaji flinched, and to be honest, he couldn’t think of a good counterattack. But like hell he’s going to let her see that. Kaji drew back, folding his arms as he continued to glare at Aiko. Aiko, on the other hand, harrumphed and turned her back on him.
This girl, he thought, is so freakin’ stubborn!!!
He frowned deeper, and in a second of childishness, he almost considered leaving her alone like she cluelessly wished for.
Idiot, he scolded himself. Of course you can’t do that.
Kaji sighed inwardly. Looking at her back and her black hair softly carried in the wind, he couldn’t help but remember that day…
The first day he saw her.
—-0—-
He had been patrolling around, looking for minors, when he came across a school. There were a lot of students in the track field, he observed, a likely target. What’s more, he felt that something was up in this area. And his instincts had rarely proved him wrong.
He flew down and stood behind the trees, keeping himself hidden from minors. He looked around, and then he saw her. She was standing beside a black-haired boy, and was looking out on the track, preparing to run. She seemed to have a blue halo as the sun’s light reflected on her hair.
“Maybe the great Toriyama doesn’t want his fans to see him get beaten… again.” she was saying.
“Cut it, Kazetenshi. I’m going to beat you this time.”
“Dream on.”
Kazetenshi… Wind Angel. It was so appropriate. Her sparkling grey eyes, her hair so easily blown in the wind, and her smile that seemed to make her radiate…
Kaji gave a start as a gunshot resounded, and the race began. He watched in wonder as the two racers ran down the track.He grinned at himself. Her lithe body was an obvious sign that she was an athlete. No wonder she was neck and neck with this boy. But he was snapped out of his reverie as something he didn’t quite expect happened.
Kaji always knew he had good timing, but he hadn’t expected that the field WOULD be attacked right then and there. Another thing he didn’t expect was that the attacker, someone cloaked in black, wasn’t a minor… It wasn’t exactly a Rose, either. But whoever it was, he didn’t like the way things were going. The person cloaked in black appeared before Kazetenshi just as the other racer was about to cross the finish line. Kazetenshi, by now, had fear written all over her beautiful features.
Wait.
She can see her attacker? How was that possible? But he had no time to ponder over this right now. Without hesitation, Kaji quickly released a wave of flame at the person in black, and making him jump aside. In front of the antagonist, Kazetenshi crossed the finish line, and collapsed to her knees. Kaji had wanted to go over to her that very second to see if she was fine, but the cloaked one flew off, and Kaji knew that he had to follow. He kicked the ground and tried to catch up with the antagonist, cursing as he went. His maroon hair whipped at his face as he focused on his target. He wasn’t about to let this guy off without a fight.
“Huh?!”
His eyes widened as something black was moving towards him FAST. He swerved sideways to avoid it, making him lose his vision on the cloaked one. Quick to recover, he started to fly in the direction he had been taking. But he stopped abruptly. Tsk. The cloaked person wasn’t there anymore. He continued to fly, anyway, but after a few minutes, he realized that his efforts were futile. The cloaked person could be anywhere now. Sighing, he turned back.
I’ll just check if the girl’s fine.
-You don’t really have to.- a voice in his head told him.
I know.
-Then why are you going?-
I don’t know… He realized, but didn’t stop flying.
-You’re not— -
Shut up. He told his inner voice. He knew what it was going to say, and he wasn’t willing to accept it just yet. Heck, he just saw the girl…it’s not like he was going to be swept away just by physical beauty…
She IS pretty, though… He slapped his forehead. What am I thinking?!
-See?-
Shut up, I said. I’m just going to check on her. Kaji repeated, then he sighed. He was back at square one.
—-0—-
Talk about stubborn.
Aiko knew she was going to let her guard down if she looked back at him, but a little peek won’t hurt, will it? She slightly turned her head, fully expecting him to still be glaring at her. But, she blinked at what she saw. He was… blushing?! She wasn’t able to verify this, however, as Kaji sighed and looked at her. Still indignant, Aiko humphed and turned her back at him again.
“Uh…” he started.
“What? Thought of something already?” Aiko asked as irritably as she could.
“Sort of…”
Silence.
“Well?”
“For one, you don’t have anywhere to go…” Kaji started.
“W-what?” Aiko breathed. “But my family— Hikaru’s fine, isn’t he?”
“Your brother has but a few injuries, but he’s OK,” Kaji repled quickly. Aiko breathed a sigh of relief. “But you can’t talk to them, they can’t see or hear you.”
Suddenly remembering she wasn’t supposed to be trusting him yet, Aiko’s eyes narrowed. “Why would I believe you?”
“Do you believe that you’re still alive?”
Aiko had nothing to say to that.
“I’m sorry,” Kaji continued, his eyes downcast, “for the way I talked to you earlier. It’s just that—” He looked up at her to tell her the urgency of the situation, when he saw her smiling. Her eyes had lost their furious glint, and were now soft with forgiveness. “It’s… uh…”
“It’s just what?” she asked curiously, cocking her head.
“It’s…” Inside his head, Kaji kicked himself for being so stupid at the moment. “It’s just that certain things have been happening these past days, and you could be in danger, so we shouldn’t stay here. That’s why I was trying to get you out of here as soon as possible.”
“In danger?” Aiko echoed. “But I’m already dead!”
“But you still could be. Look, this will take a long explanation, so I’d advise we do it at Ran-sama’s place.”
Aiko sighed. Looks like she didn’t have any choice. “All right.”
————–
Aiko looked at Kaji curiously. He was holding her wrist, as she held on to his, as they flew. It would’ve been fine, since he WAS leading her to this Ran-sama. But his grip had been a tad too tight for someone who was just escorting, and their speed… If they were on the ground, they’d probably be running. His eyes looked pretty serious, too. Maybe there IS danger around, she thought. Aiko felt her left arm falling asleep so shifted her light grip on Kaji, just to make sure blood was still circulating.
“Is your arm getting numb?” Kaji asked without looking at her.
“Yes, actually. Wanna shift a—”
Aiko gasped silently in surprise as Kaji pulled her to him without shifting his gaze. His one arm encircled her waist, and the other supported her back, and the back of her head.
“Uhm…” she started, as she felt herself blushing. She was fully conscious of Kaji’s hand buried in her hair.
“Your right arm got numb just a few minutes ago. I don’t think it’ll last long, either.”
He had a point. They had been flying for almost an hour, and Aiko’s arms seem to get numb more and more frequently for the past 30 minutes. Kaji had been turning the two of them to change the arm she was using to hold on to him, but it would be easier for both of them this way…
I suppose… Aiko thought as she closed her eyes and relaxed in his arms.
————–
After nearly another hour of flying, Kaji broke the silence. “Here we are.”
“Eh? But we’re still outside!” was what Aiko was going to say, but she only got to “Eh?” They used to be outside, and she had not seen the entrance to…wherever they were right now. And this “wherever they were in right now” was a humongous hall. Aiko turned to look where they entered, and saw that there wasn’t a wall. Just pillars supporting the ceiling. The floor was marble, and the wall opposite the main entrance had another entrance to what looked like another hall, but less elaborate than the one they were in. The white marbled floor was so shiny you’d think it was polished every hour. The heavy curtains on the wall were blue and silver.
“Wow…” Aiko breathed as Kaji let go of her.
“Ran-sama!” he called. But he was greeted by silence. He cleared his throat and tried again.
“Ran-sama!” Silence still.
“RAN-SAMA!!!” he tried for the third time.
Before Aiko had time to raise her eyebrows at Kaji, a blur of blue and black zoomed towards her and took her hands.
“Aiko-san! WelcomeWelcomeWelcome!”
Aiko blinked at the black-haired man grinning from ear to ear before her.
“Uh, hi… Ran…-sama?” she guessed.
“Ah, forget the -sama part,” he replied, not moving from his position.
“OK…Ran-chan,” Aiko tried with a small laugh. When Ran narrowed his eyes at her, Aiko innocently cleared her throat.
“Well,” Ran started, “now that we’re all introduced, please comecomecome!”
As Aiko looked at Ran while they walked, she thought he definitely looked worthy of being called with the honorific “-sama”. His facial features told her that he must be twenty-something, and he considerably tall. He was wearing something that looked like Chinese martial arts clothes that fit him perfectly. Ran-sama was standing with an air of royalty and wisdom, though his face was smiling as if he cared nothing about the world.
“So, Aiko-san. You just died a few minutes ago, right?” he said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“Uh…”
“Forgive his rudeness. You’ll get used to it,” Kaji whispered in her ear, though Aiko was sure Ran-sama heard him, anyway.
“He still won’t be able to beat YOU,” she whispered back.
“Excuse me,” Ran said in slight irritation as he pulled Aiko to his other side, away from Kaji. “I’m STILL talking here?” He spoke with such a funny face that the younger two just smiled wanly.
“OK. Well, let’s get straight to the point,” Ran continued. “I will offer you a job that can let you go back to earth. You’re going to be a guardian of souls–”
“A guardian of souls?” Aiko clarified. This was getting weirder and weirder by the hour.
“Yes. There are some certain occassions when a person comes close to dying, when he isn’t supposed to. That’s where we come in. WE’re the ones saving them. But as I said, that’s just on special occasions. Actually, I can do the job alone…”
“But he chose to lie around and make us work for him,” Kaji muttered under his breath, earning himself another glare from Ran.
“We call ourselves Blue Star— cool name, eh? — or just Star for short. When you become a Star, of course, you CAN assume a human form and look like your old self…WillthatbeOK?”
Aiko smiled widely and opened her mouth to answer. But before she could say anything, Ran raised his hand to stop her.
“There are a few conditions and rules.”
Ran stopped walking, opening a door, and they enter a room that was not at all what Aiko expected. She had thought that the rooms to be as elaborate and classic as the hall, but it looked like the ones at rich business offices. The plush carpeting silenced their steps, and the conference table looked VERY professional. As the hall, its overall theme is blue and silver. A girl with long, light blue hair approached them and gave Ran a pamphlet. Aiko sideglanced Kaji and noticed his raised eyebrow.
“Aiko-san, this is Yuki, she’ll work with you, too.” Ran introduced them, handing the pamphlet to Aiko.
“Guidelines To—”
“I will make this fast, since I have a lot to catch up on. No one may know who you really are. THAT is rule #1. You are not to be known as the assistant to me, understood?”
“Why not?”
Ran chose to ignore the question. “You will have the power of the wind. You will have to train for 1 year our time before you can even descend. I can control time here, so that’ll give you 7 days earth time. Rule#2: You cannot die!”
“Say again?”
Again, Ran ignored the question. “Sure, you’ll live again, but chances are, you can’t go back to earth as a human YET. Because for you to die, you need to be drained of all your energy. And if that happens, you won’t have enough energy to live again. It’ll be after a long long long looooooooong time. For the meantime you’ll stay here and work as you’re supposed to. So the long and short of it is, if your body dies, you still get to live. Unless, of course, if you don’t want to live anymore, that’s just fine.” Ran paused to take a deep breath. “Is that clear?!”
“Y-Yes, sir, but–”
Ran ignored her yet again. “If one finds out about your identity, you must erase that part of their memory. You have until tomorrow to decide. Think about it thoroughly tonight. Kaji will escort you to your room. Forgive me, but I must leave.” He took a bow, then immediately disappeared with a puff of smoke. Aiko was in stunned silence.
“Geez…Was the smoke necessary?” Kaji commented, trying to wave off the smoke with his hand. “And what’s with the pamphlet? We’ve never had one of those before…”
“Ran-sensei’s idea,” Yuki replied with a shrug, and started to walk out of the room.
.
.
“If you didn’t get to absorb everything he said, just ask us,” Kaji said to Aiko, noticing her silence, as they walked to her room.
“Thanks. Does he really speak THAT fast all the time?”
“Sometimes…” Yuki replied. “Sometimes he even gets so emotional about some things. But don’t worry, he still has the ability to act like a normal human being.”
“Oh…Um, what’ll happen if I don’t accept Ran’s offer?”
“Then you’ll die anyway.”
“So you’re really forcing me, is that it?”
“No… You’re supposed to be dead by now, remember?”
“Oh. Then why did he even offer the job to me?”
“Ran just offered you the job in case you’d want to go back to earth in return for working for him. He saw you had what it takes for it, so all we need now is your answer.” He stopped walking in front of a door to his left. “Here’s your room. See you tomorrow, then?”
Aiko nodded and entered her room. Again, what she saw caught her by surprise. Ran-sama MUST like blue… she thought to herself. The blue carpeting felt soft under her feet, and the white curtains billow softly as the wind blew into the room. Aiko sat on the queen-sized four-post bed and found it VERY comfortable. It had thin white cloth draperies, much like the curtains, hanging from the posts, that she can untie to give her privacy as she slept. Everything was just so magnificent.
Kaji couldn’t help but smile as Aiko’s eyes wandered around the room.
Interesting, Yuki observed. With a grin on her lips, Yuki pushed Kaji away from the room. “Well, good night, Kazetenshi-san,” she said as she closed the door.
.
.
Aiko sighed and flopped on the bed. Kaji’s voice echoed in her mind.
He saw you had what it takes for it, all we need now is your answer.
She “had what it takes”? And how did she have “what it takes”? What did it take, really? And why did she have to train? All she had to do was… Wait. What was she supposed to do? She got the “guardian of souls” part, but aside from that, the job description wasn’t very elaborate. Come to think of it, Ran-sama WAS a bit vague. What will she guard the souls from? What special occassions was Ran-sama talking about? Aiko closed her eyes, suddenly feeling very puzzled about the turn of events. Will she accept? It’d be really nice to be back on earth again, alive. But then, she remembered her conversation with Kaji earlier. What did Kaji mean when he said that they may still be in danger? She forgot to ask him about that. But it didn’t matter, did it? She was supposed to be dead already, and if she didn’t become a Blue Star, she’ll never get to be with her family again. Being a Star didn’t seem to be much of a risk if she has the ability to live again, anyway. She sighed again. She felt sleep wasn’t going to come anytime soon.
“I wonder what eveyone else is doing now…” she whispered to no one in particular. She seriously wished that they won’t be sad about her “condition”. She was going to come back, anyway.
Aiko blinked.
She was?
————–
In a hospital, Hikaru watched his father on the phone. He had his back to him, and he was speaking in a hushed voice, letting only fragments of sentences wander to Hikaru’s ear. The brown-haired boy had no idea what to feel right now, except worried…and guilty. Although he knew he probably didn’t have to, he still did.
“Thank you…Please keep us posted,” Ken’ichi was saying.
So they still haven’t found her… Hikaru thought sadly.
Ken’ichi put the phone down, leaned on the wall and massaged his temples. Looking at Hikaru, he knew he didn’t seem to be in a better mood than he was. And from the expression on his face, he felt that his son knew what had been said through the phone: Aiko was still missing.
“Dad…” Hikaru said, almost inaudibly. “Maybe we should just…have to accept that—”
“No, we don’t,” Ken’ichi interrupted. He knew what the boy was going to say. “I won’t. There’s hope for her yet.”
“But…Dad, nobody could have survived—”
“I won’t.” Ken’ichi said firmly. “Hikaru, I already lost your mother and your…” he trailed off. Why did life have to be so cruel?! He slammed his fist on the table. “I’m NOT going to lose Aiko, too! My daughter is alive, you hear? Your sister is alive, Hikaru…” he said in a voice suppressed by anger, desperation and sadness. Tears stung his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. He wasn’t about accept it just yet.
————–
Aiko clenched and unclenched her hands as she looked at Ran’s back. Kaji had knocked on her door that morning, and had taken her to Ran’s “office” where she was now.
“So…” came the man’s voice. “What is the decision?”
Aiko smiled. She wasn’t used to him being this serious. Not that she had known him long enough to be “used to” him being anything. “You know what is,” she said calmly.
“So I do…” He finally turned with a soft smile. “Welcome to Blue Star, Kazetenshi Aiko.”
.
.
————–
Next on Blue Star:
While Aiko starts her one-year training, her friends on earth are having a hard time dealing with their loss… until Kamui takes a startling phone call.
“We’re going to start with the abilities given to all blue stars. So…shall we begin?”
Episode 3: Power
————–
From the Author
And that, my friends, is why this is called Blue Star Yes, they have the power of the elements. Familiar, I know. But, that’s not the point. Actually, it was because of lack of new ideas that I chose to make their powers elemental. Oh, and I need major opinions on Kaji, by the way. Watcha think of him so far? Also, there’s something in Ken’ichi-san’s little speech that might catch your eye…But then again, maybe it won’t.
Clarifications:
– I don’t know if there was a road by the cliff from Chiba to Tokyo… well, this is MY story, and I say there is
Glossary:
Ojoosama – miss
“…, ne?” – “…, right?”
sensei – teacher / master
